Puget S1, Pivrnec M.1
1 Nestlé Nespresso, Lausanne, Switzerland. E-mail: sabine.puget@nespresso.com
More than half of coffee beverages worldwide are drunk in combination with milk. The most common /well known recipes are espresso based as the cappuccino or the latte macchiato. Milk addition to lungo coffees represents the most frequent usage especially developed in the Nordic countries and in the US. The amount of milk added depends both on culture as well as on personal preferences. Regarding coffee, the general perception is to use strong coffees in order to allow the expression of the coffee aromas in the presence of milk.
In the current study we aimed at understanding how a lungo coffee range with a wide aromatic variety will express its aromatic notes in the presence of milk, and more specifically, how the quantity of milk impacts the result in cup.
Thirty assessors were invited to three sensory sessions, each one dedicated to a specific beverage i.e. black lungo coffee, lungo coffee with a dash of milk, and Lungo coffee with same amount of milk. The sensory procedure was the same for each session and consisted in sorting tasks followed by description of the groups using a common list of attributes.
The comparison of mappings obtained with different milk quantities shows that the perceptual space is modified. However, this modification is not due to a simple masking of coffee notes in presence of milk but to a real modification of the coffee sensory properties. As already shown in a study dedicated to espressos, some of the sensory dimensions of the black coffees remains, some seem to be masked (e.g. acidity) others seem to be revealed as biscuits or caramel notes.
It can be concluded that not only intensively roasted coffees should be recommended and that distinctive coffees allow the preparation of differentiated milk based beverages.
